Pachyderms thrive in middle

In making your case for middle America being squeezed out of existence from political extremism within both political parties, your editorial declares that, "there is most definitely a fracturing of the GOP here, with Pachyderms, Reagan Republicans and other factions serving up candidates reflecting their particular platforms."

This declaration of yours reflects badly on local republicans if left unchallenged. I feel I am qualified to speak to this mischaracterization of who we are because not only am I a former GOP Kootenai County Chairman, elected State Representative and Pachyderm but an elected precinct committeeman and thus a member of the County Republican Central Committee and the Central Committee's representative as liaison to the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce, and a board member of the Reagan Republicans. So I give you facts, not opinions.

There is no fracturing of the local GOP. Pachyderm Clubs are basically a speakers bureau chartered by the Republican National Committee. We in Kootenai County are proud that we have two clubs; the other in Post Falls. The president of our Coeur d'Alene club is our GOP Central Committee Vice Chairman. Past speakers have not only been local politicos but speakers with state and national credentials from both political parties, liberal and conservative, and yes, even you were one of our speakers.

The Reagan Republicans have a membership including some of the GOP Central Committee. One of the founders is on the Central Committee and was encouraged to organize the Reagan Republicans by the GOP County Chairman, Brad Corkhill. They also function as a speakers bureau but with an agenda of political action on specific political projects all of which promote the principles of the Republican Party as stated in our platform.

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee is the elected precinct committee men and women whose function is to elect republicans selected in the party primaries. In that pursuit they organize their precincts identifying likely republican voters and encourage them to vote. The monthly meetings of The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee nearly always has full participation from a membership of more than 70 precincts, open to the public. We do not engage in debates on political issues at these meetings. As explained above individual members of the Central Committee get involved with outreach organizations where political discussions result in political action.

As a community newspaper, you should be proud that Coeur d'Alene has a large contingent of citizens that are involved in public affairs to this extent. Obviously we don't represent the "apathetic masses" you decry but are in fact, the middle ground which is conservative. The voters do wield the ultimate power in deciding how they will be represented and they are saying with increased intensity that they prefer, in fact insist, upon less government intrusion. Conservative Republicans offer just that and we do it in harmony with the Central Committee and outreach organizations.

Gary Ingram is a Coeur d'Alene resident.